She's a mystery to me
by Craploadsofawesomeness
Summary: Like most fairytales, Nico thinks, this story starts with conflict. Karolina, on the other hand, likes to think it starts with love. Everything in her story, she says, starts with Nico.
1. Chapter 1

Like most fairytales, Nico thinks, this story starts with conflict.

It starts with the fall of Wizendom, with the advent of the Gibborim. It starts when the royal family of Gibb, the Deans, banish the dark kingdom from their empire. When Queen Leslie closes the gates on every Witch and Wizard, and breaks the ties that have held her family and the Minorus together for centuries. When the Steins, and the Yorkes, and the Wilders collectively vote to cast them out. It starts, when Tina Minoru, blinded by fury, vows to wreak havoc on the Golden Empire, and burn it to the ground.

Karolina, on the other hand, likes to think it starts with love. Everything in her story, she says, starts with Nico.

Her mother looks her right in the eyes while she asks her to bleed.

There is a fire burning in the middle of the room, and the heat is overwhelming. Nico curses Wizendom for its traditional garb of all black clothing, and concentrates hard on the flame in front of her. She is supposed to be repeating some holy words, to give her strength, but it is way too warm for her to remember them right now. So she mumbles some song under her breath, and hopes it passes for the mantra.

"Do you, Nico, my true heir, the Princess of Darkness, promise to lead Wizendom into a time of peace? Do you vow to do everything in your power to destroy the Empire of Gibb, to not rest until the entire royal family, and the reigning heads, have been captured and brought down to their knees in front of us? Do you promise to shed your blood and your sweat in the pursuit of vengeance?"

She nods, then realizes that the entire court is watching "I vow so."

"Then let your blood drip on this eternal flame, and let this mark the beginning of the end."

The long, curved dagger slices into her arm, and Nico has the time to register her own pain and the thinly veiled concern in the eyes of her mother, before her father takes her hand in his, and holds it over the fire. She watches the blood flow down her arm into the fire, and a cheer goes up from the entire audience.

This is just the beginning, she thinks, as her cut stings and burns from being this close to the orange flames, and closes her eyes.

Karolina Dean.

She is pretty, the princess, Nico thinks to herself, as she looks at her face projected onto the walls. Like, a floaty, flighty, and would-probably-die-if-you-cursed-in-front-of-her kind of pretty. It seems like the kind of pretty that wouldn't be any use in a fight. It somehow makes her feel both worse and better at the same time.

"You know what you have to do, don't you," Robert asks her. He is the only one who has misgivings about this entire thing.

"Find the girl, bring her here, watch mother torture her, maybe get an ice-cream on the way."

"Nico!" Tina's voice echoes in the chambers "Stop being flippant about this."

"Why? So I can take this seriously, and then have time to think about how I'm essentially killing a girl, a girl of my own age, who, like me, wasn't even born when this stupid fight happened? No thank you."

"They killed Amy," her mother says, and like always, it shuts her up "Your sister died because of one of them. Do you think she had anything to do with _this stupid fight_ as you so eloquently reduce a decades-long conflict to? Do you remember that day? Weren't you the one who found her?"

"Stop," Nico mutters, weakly "Please, stop."

Tina stands in front of her, and hands her the Staff of One "Remember that the next time you feel like you might have a little bit of pity for anyone who has Dean at the end of their name."

The strangest thing about all the events of that day is how inevitable it all was. Even if the pebble hadn't existed, even if the other four hadn't been there in the room, even if everything had worked as planned, she believes she was meant to fail.

Breaking into Gibb had been easy. All she'd had to do was say the right command and the Staff had done the rest of the work. It wasn't difficult finding the castle, either. All she had to do was follow the random singing people. She had then commanded the Staff to mask her, and crossed the moat along with the courtiers. For such a huge, powerful empire, their security was shit.

She is currently crouching behind a pillar in the middle of the girl's balcony, waiting for her to come back from wherever she is. The room is completely empty, and very….bright, to say the least. The walls are painted a pale cream-white, and there are curtains everywhere and a lot of sunlight. All in all, a room fit for a princess.

She hears murmurs coming from behind the door, coming closer and closer, and she pivots her body, so that she is completely hidden with only her head exposed so that she can see. Just as she is done hiding, the door bursts open and about five people come walking in a flurry of movement and voices.

"What is it that you had to show us that absolutely couldn't wait?" a purple-haired girl asks, arms crossed.

"It's totally worth it," the tall, muscular jock-like boy replies, glee evident in his voice "Just you wait."

"Chase, it's not," a soft voice rings out, hesitantly, and Nico cranes her neck to look at its owner "It's really, not, much."

She has felt a lot of things in her life. Being sixteen years of age may not be much, but it is enough to have gone through rather turbulent shifts, and she knows what everything feels like. She has felt anger, at her mother for relentlessly training her, resentment towards her father for not daring to stand up for her. Sorrow, when Amy died. And yet, nothing she has ever felt comes close to what she feels when she sees this girl.

There's something in her chest that goes a little haywire, her heart speeds up and yet feels settled, and she thinks something like _Ah, there you are. The pictures don't do you justice_ , she thinks, _you're ethereal. Beautiful. I hope you don't put up a fight because then you'd get hurt, and I really don't want you to get hurt_. The haze lasts for about a minute, and then she shakes her head, trying to realign it. _What in the world….._

"Come on," a younger looking girl urges Karolina, and Nico refocuses her attention.

"Alright," she acquiesces, and slowly undoes a silver bracelet on her hand "Just promise you won't freak out."

Nico blinks once, and when she opens her eyes, the world is an abundance of colors. Karolina is glowing. Her entire body shimmers with red and yellow and blue, and the light pulses outwards from her, reflecting in her friends' awed expressions. She blinks again. And once more. The image does not disappear.

And that is when she screws up. When it fully registers with her, the fact that there is girl who is glowing like a freaking rainbow about ten feet away from her, her first instinct is to take a step back. Unfortunately, this results in her stepping on a tiny pebble, and nearly stumbling. She does manage to gather her balance, but

"Fuck!"

When she looks up again, there are five people staring at her.

She recovers fast, holding her staff out in front of her. Before they can even move, she barks out a command, pointing it at the girl "Sleep!"

And that is where the second screw up of the day happens. Her staff shakes in her hand, almost like it's rebelling, misfires and blows her off the balcony.

She likes to say she has never given much thought to death, but that's not true. She has imagined it in various ways. These are dangerous times they live in, and one spell could mean the end of her. Her mother has trained her for every kind of situation, has told her about all the things, all the people in the world that want to harm her.

And yet, falling off the balcony of a beautiful girl because her staff is faulty isn't one of them.

Except she isn't falling. Her body feels like it is being held in space, and when she does dare to open her eyes, she sees light all around her. Then she raises her head, and sees Karolina with her arms outstretched, and the strange, multicolored light coming from her palms.

At that point, she does faint.

When she wakes up, she is tied to a chair and her staff is lying on the floor. There are people furiously whispering among themselves, somewhere in her vicinity. Her head hurts, and there is a small period of time where she cannot remember why. Then it all comes flashing back to her, and she groans loudly.

"Oh, fuck me," is what she says, and everybody quiets down.

The five kids are staring at her again.

"What?"

"We know who you are," some dude wearing glasses steps forward.

She raises her eyebrows.

"You're one of the Minorus. You're….the Dark Princess."

"Good job," she tells him, dryly, trying not to give away how freaked out she is "Would you like a reward?"

"I hardly think you're in a position to be kidding around right now, do you?" the violet-haired girl asks her, and Nico likes her immediately.

"Alright," she concedes "So now that you do know who I am, why am I not in the dungeons right now?"

The four of them turn to look at Karolina, and she shrugs, clearly uncomfortable. Nico looks at her too, waiting for her to make eye-contact. When she finally does, her heart gives a familiar start, and she frowns at her.

"It didn't feel right," Karolina says, and Nico's curiosity increases.

"Well, bright side, at least she can't hurt us now," the muscular boy from before, Chase notes.

"Are you quite sure about that, dude?" she asks him, and at the same time, flips her palm upwards. The Staff of One flies into it, and she looks at him "Faint."

He crumples into a heap, and the others crowd around him. Nico unties herself, stands up, Staff in hand, and looks at it for a long moment. It doesn't seem wrong. Then why did it misfire earlier?

Karolina seems to be wondering the same thing, by the looks of it.

"What's wrong with him?" the younger girl questions her, frantic.

"He's fine," she answers, waving a hand "Wake up."

The boy opens his eyes, and immediately jumps up into a fighting stance. It nearly makes her laugh.

"Karolina, do your light thing at her," the nerdy boy urges "Blast her or something."

She seems strangely reluctant to do so, and Nico wonders why "I….would rather not."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, okay? Just…" the girl looks her straight in the eyes now "Leave. Go away."

The other four look as flabbergasted as she feels right now "What?"

"Do you have a death wish?" Karolina asks her.

"Um, no?"

"Then leave. And don't come back."

Amid the others' protests, Nico steps back, takes one last look at this strange girl made of light, and runs.

"But this Staff seems alright," Tina examines it from end to end "Are you sure you didn't just say the wrong thing? Or say the spell the wrong way?"

"I'm sure there are no wrong ways to say Sleep, mom," she deadpans.

"Then why did it do what you described? This has never happened to me before."

"Must have been a fluke, Tina," Robert reassures her "I'm sure the Staff is alright. And I'm glad Nico is fine as well."

He smiles at her, and she smiles back, hesitantly.

"Obviously, she can never go back," he continues, and both Nico's and her mother's heads whip around to stare at him.

"What? Why?" Tina asks him, and Nico holds her breath. She cannot explain why, but she wants to go back. Wants to see the girl again. Wants to figure out why her staff didn't work.

"Because the kids have probably told the guards by now. Nico won't be able to step one foot into the Kingdom without being recognized. And if the Staff malfunctions again…well, I shudder to think of what would happen then."

Her mother considers it for a while "Very well," she says finally "You will assist me with different matters. Diplomatic matters. Nico will not go back there for a considerable period of time."

Which is how Nico finds herself at the entrance of the city, ready to step into the den of the lion once again


	2. Chapter 2

When Nico imagined coming back to Gibb, it was definitely under different circumstances than hanging off the balcony of the princess' room, but she guesses she cannot have everything in life.

"What in the world are you doing here?" Karolina hisses at her.

"Holding on for dear life," she grunts out as a response "Little help?"

Karolina extends a hand down, and she grabs it, a jolt going through her at the touch. Karolina's hand is soft, warm, and Nico doesn't want to think about why she likes holding it. She climbs up onto the balcony, and looks at the girl.

"Hi," she says.

"Hey," Karolina replies, her voice shy. She seems jittery somehow, her eyes darting here and there. Nico notices they're still holding hands.

"Karolina?"

"Yes?"

"You're still holding my hand."

Karolina rolls her eyes, letting go of it. Nico feels the loss immediately, but turns away, and moves into her room. Not much has changed since the last time she was here. It is still a nauseating shade of princess. The only difference is that there aren't about a million other people crowding them.

(She likes it this way)

"Nice place," she observes "Do the singing birds work on your hair here or is there another room where that happens?"

Karolina doesn't say anything, just looks at her steadily until Nico lowers her gaze.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I don't know….."

"Don't know what?"

 _How to talk to you,_ she thinks. _What to say, how to say it. My mind keeps blanking every time you look at me, and all that seems to be coming out is random lunacy_

"Stuff," she completes, and Karolina rolls her eyes again. Nico finds it annoyingly attractive.

"Eloquent," Karolina says, sitting down on her bed "Why are you here again?"

She casts her mind around for a good reason "Um, spying."

Karolina chuckles "Good job admitting that to your spy-ee. Is that what they taught you in Spying 101?"

"Ha ha," she deadpans "Funny. You're a lark. Is kidding around with your would-be kidnapper what they taught you in Princess 101?"

"No, that was an introductory class about the benefits of singing birds working on your hair."

Nico stifles a smirk.

"Plus," Karolina continues "You couldn't kidnap me. Wouldn't."

"My staff might work properly now," she asks, deliberately casual "How do you know that I couldn't kidnap you?"

"The same way you're sitting here, completely relaxed, in the room of a person who shoots light out of her hands and could blast you any moment. Just because."

She has to admit it's true.

"So the girl with the purple hair is Gert. The boy you knocked out is Chase. The other boy, the one with the glasses is Alex. And the last one is Molly."

"And that's your entire troupe," Nico questions her from where she's sitting on the floor. Thinking about sitting on Karolina's bed, next to her, even if the girl had offered, had made her skin feel like it was breaking out in hives, so she'd decided to set up camp on the floor. It wasn't uncomfortable, if she were being honest. There was a plushy-ass carpet and everything.

"I guess?" Karolina replies, frowning "We've just always been close. We grew up together, our families were in this…group or society or whatever you'd call it called PRIDE, and while they were off doing their grown-up adult work thingies we kind of just fell together, and started hanging out. It was…natural, to say the least."

"That's nice," she replies, automatically.

"What about you?" Karolina asks her, seeming a little self-conscious "Who are your friends?"

She shrugs "Don't have them."

"You don't have friends?"

She shakes her head, and Karolina's lips turn down at the corners "Oh."

"It's fine," she starts, in an attempt to make herself seem less pathetic somehow "I've just always been busy in training or something so it doesn't even matter. I mean, who's got time when you have to gain mastery over some stupid staff so your mother can gain mastery over an Empire, right?"

By the look on Karolina's face, it isn't exactly working.

She's about to open her mouth again when someone knocks on the door. A shout of "Open up, Princess of Sparkles" and the sound of two female voices giggling comes into the room, and for a moment both of them freeze. Then suddenly, Karolina walks towards her, her hands on her shoulders, and pushing her towards the balcony. Nico goes along with it, mostly because she's too stumped by the sensation and by the girl's proximity.

"You have to go," Karolina's voice sounds panicked "They cannot see you here."

"Oh, um, uh," is what comes out of her mouth in lieu of a reply, and Karolina suddenly realizes how close they both are. She hastily steps back, color darkening her cheeks.

"Go," she whispers again.

"Can I come back?" Nico asks her "Tomorrow, day after, any day I can sneak away. Can I come back?"

Karolina looks conflicted for a moment, then she nods.

Nico can feel her face muscles trying to smile, and she has to try hard to control them. She's sure it isn't fooling anyone, though.

"Okay," she calls out, turning away "See you around."

She does. Come back, that is.

Sometimes they sit on the balcony, in the starlight and talk. Sometimes Nico makes the guards do funny things with her staff to make Karolina laugh. Sometimes, Karolina would take off her bracelet and make the lights dance around in the room, and Nico just watches, completely in awe of her.

After about two month of clandestine meetings, these are the things Nico has realized about Karolina:

That she loves chocolate. Once, she'd come right after her lunch, and found her sobbing on her bed because the castle had run out of chocolate, and Karolina was too nice to make anyone go to the city to get it for her.

(From that day on, she makes it a habit to get some for her every time she visits)

That Karolina is one of the sweetest people in the world, and she means that. Quite literally. She can hear it in her voice when she talks about her friends, how much she cares about them. She would absolutely die for them, no questions asked, and Nico spends most of her time hoping they'd do that for her, too.

(She spends the other half of her time wondering what the fuck happened to her that turned her into this gooey ball of fuck-knows-what)

That she might, very possibly, have a teensy bit of a crush on her.

Okay, so the crush might not be just a crush. Maybe it has blown up into a complete crisis. Maybe she thinks about Karolina all the time. Maybe she spends all the time that she's not with her, wanting to be with her. Maybe she wants Karolina to tie her hair up because damn it, it is ridiculously hard to stop her hands from brushing that one lock of hair away from her forehead. Maybe she keeps fiddling with her hands constantly so she wouldn't give in to the insane urge of holding Karolina's. Maybe, she is starting to say stupid things on purpose just so she can see her smile. Maybe it is so bad that almost every one of Karolina's friends have picked up on it by now.

Ah, yes, that's a funny story.

So it's not exactly her fault that she runs into the Fabulous Four. They have a system, Karolina and her. Karolina usually hangs this tiny black handkerchief from her balcony when she isn't alone, just so it is visible enough to Nico from far away. But on this particular day, apparently while Alex and Chase were doing something stupid, Alex managed to knock his elbow into Chase's teeth, and in her intense panic, Karolina grabbed the best thing she could find that would stem the blood flow. Which happened to be the handkerchief dangling from the roof. Which is why, about half an hour after the debacle is over, and Nico sneaks into the Kingdom, she sees a handkerchief-less balcony, and climbs up.

And comes face to face with four very confused and hostile people and Karolina.

"Um," she starts, because what else can she possibly say.

"You…..she…..her…ouch," Chase goes through all the stages of surprise, and then yowls because his nose hurts from all the facial exercises it has just gone through.

"I can explain," Karolina says, and everybody turns to her "Nico has been…..visiting me."

"Why?" Molly asks, her arms crossed.

"Because, um, she's, um, you know."

"I'm a friend," she completes for the flailing Karolina because although it is very cute to see her fumble her way through an explanation, four people are staring daggers at her right now, and she'd really like to move past this as soon as she can.

"A friend," Gert says, flatly "Your friend is a spy who was sent to kidnap you, the princess of the Dark Empire, the daughter and heir of the one woman who has more cause to want to see you die than any other person on the planet."

"I know it sounds crazy?" Karolina offers.

"It sounds more than crazy," Alex bursts out, pushing his glasses up "It's ridiculously irresponsible. And stupid. And other, equally devastating insults that I cannot think of right now because there is a dangerous spy with an equally dangerous staff in her hands."

"I mean," Gert concedes "That staff didn't really work properly at least one time out of the two she's used it, so I think we're about 50% safe."

"You wanna try that out for real?" she asks, only half-joking.

"Okay, you know what," Karolina cuts in "This is getting ridiculous. Nico isn't dangerous, believe me."

"She could be," Molly tells her, hands up for emphasis.

"Look, she's had multiple opportunities to kidnap me over the past two months, and yet she hasn't."

Over Alex's disbelieving mutter of 'Two months', Gert counters "What if she's playing the long game or something? Like, you know, gathering information to bring the Empire down?"

Okay, Nico is officially bored now.

"I am sure the fact that Chase once tinkered with his boots, put little jets on them, and hovered around calling them "Joots" might be a colossally important fact to all of you, but somehow I don't think there is anything my mother could do with that."

Karolina turns to her, surprise written all over her face "You remember that?" and Chase mutters an "Aw, she knows that" simultaneously.

She looks at Karolina "Yeah."

There is an extended pause.

"Well then," Gert breaks it softly "This is stupid, but Karolina, you're our friend, and we trust you. If you say Nico isn't dangerous, we're willing to give her the benefit of doubt. But, it'll still take us a long time to trust her."

"I understand that," Karolina smiles at her "I just want all my friends to know each other, and just, you know, be together."

Nico smirks at Gert, who just scowls back.

So maybe Gert does give her understanding looks when Chase hangs around Karolina too much. Maybe they both have their own unspoken, unacknowledged community of "People who have the hots for super-attractive oblivious dumbasses who would look great with each other instead of with them". It's alright, all things considered. Nico likes having friends. She likes Gert and Molly and Chase and even Alex. Most of all, she likes Karolina. She likes her shiny hair, and her deep blue eyes, and her way of looking at the world, but most of all, she likes being her friend. She wouldn't give that up for anything, not even her pesky feelings.

Plus, there is the question of their parents being eternal rivals and sworn enemies who in no way would accept it if she and Karolina were together.

(Not that it matters, anyway. Karolina is Karolina. She is the sun, and Nico is a mere planet helplessly stuck in her gravity, doomed to revolve around her eternally)

It's fine.

It has to be.


End file.
